Headlight-adjusting device.



PATENTED OCT. 29. 1907.

F. P. OOBHAM.

HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

- Allorney N0. 869,549. PATE-NTED OCT- 29. 1907.

I F. P. COBHAM.

HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3. 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

[NVENTOR B m m Allomep PATENTED OCT. 29. 1907.

P. P. COBHAM. HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.3, 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET s.

.VENTOR Aiz'orneys PATENTEDOGT. 29. 1907. F. P. GOBHAM.

. HEADLIGHT ADJUSTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1907- 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

PATENT ()FFJLUL Specification of Letters Patent.

HE ADLIGHT-ADJ'USTING DEVICE.

Patented Oct. 29, 1907.

Application filed January 3. 1907- Serial No. 350.651.

To It H'l/UIII [I may roller/H;

lhit known that l. Fluent-Huck l. tomt.\.\1. a citizen f the t nnedStates. residing at Jamestown. in the count of thautuut uu and N'latc ofNew York. have in \ctllctl certain new and useful improvements inHeadlight.\d ius,ting l)c\'iccs: and i do hereby de lare the followingto be a full. clcar. and exact description of the invention. such aswill enable others skilled in the art towhich it nppcrlains to make anduse the same.

My invention consists in the novel features hereinafterdescribed.reference bcinghad to the accompanying drawings which illustrate severalforms in wh'ich l have contemplated embodying my invention and saidinvention is fully discloscd in the following description and claims.

in the said drawings. Figurc l is a perspective view of a portion of thedash board or front wall of a car, such as an electric trolley car, (thedash boardbeing shown partly in section) and showing one form of myinvention applicd thereto the headlight or lantern being indicated indotted lines. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lantern or headlight andadjusting mechanism applied to a car and drawn to a smaller scale. thednsh board or front wall of the car being shown in section. Fig. I; is atop plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1. different, po-

sit ions of. the lantcrn or head light being indicated in dotted lines.Fig. 4 is a partial View of a car, showing my improrcd devices attachedto the carand connected with the truck. Fig. 5 is a plan view of aportion of a car showing my improved devices attached and conncctcd withthe truck, different positions of the truck and the movement of the headlight produced thcrcby bcing illustrated by dottcd lines. Fig. 6 is aside elevat ion of a portion of a car showing my devices appliedthereto. and illustrating a nu Idillltl construction for connectingthehead light support or hanger to the front truck. Fig. 7 is a detailview of a part of the automatic adjusting m -chanism shown in Fig. 8.tail of-on e of thelocking plates shown in Fig. 3.

In the operation of 'trolley cars, it has been proposed to mount'theheadlight upon a pivotal connection and connect it with the front truckof the car so that the headlight will be swung laterally by themovements of the truck in following thc tracks. While this automaticcontrol of the headlight is advantageous, there are many occasions whenit. is highly desirable and important that the operator or motorman maybe able to direct. the rays from the heat'llight upon particular pointsor in particular directions, and my invention ct'tntemplates thecombining with the automatic controlling means for the headlight, ofindependent hand operated devices by means of which the operator may atany time remove the headligh t from the control of the aut matic devicesand operate it in either .ireetion by Fig. 8 is a dc hand. For example,in passing around a curve the headlight. when controlled by theatttognatic devices will be caused to direct its light entirely outsidcof the curve, so that none of the road bed is illuminated except for afew feet in front of the car, and in such case, when my presentinvention is employed, the operator may by means of the hand operateddevices, instantly throw the light laterally across the curve and uponit, so as to light any and all portions of it, and in other ways it. isfound to be both necessary and desirable to have the headlight undermanual control.

in carrying out my invention 1 mount the head light or lantern A (whichmay be of any desired type, but which is preferably an electric arc headlight), upon vertically disposed pivots so that it may be swung eitherto the right or left. i prefer to provide a lamp support or hanger B,which is preferably made harp shape as shown in Fig. I, having ahorizontal top bar I), for receiving hook shaped projections a on theframe of the head light or lantern, the said top bar being provided withmeans for prt'iventing the lateral displacement of the said projectionsa. In this instance the top bar of the hangers is provided with twopairs of projections b" 1) between which the projections a lie.

t represents a bracket which is bolted or othe wise secured to the fontwall or dash board of the car, and has two -(or more) arms c extendingforwardly and hinged by vertically disposed pivot pins or bolts 0 tolugs I) on the rear of the hanger B. i

The lantern A is secured in position to the hanger B by dropping itshooks a 11 over bar 1) between the projections bb, and the lower part ofthe lantern frame is provided with a pair of adjustable projectionsformed by screws (1 a (see Fig. 2) which rest. against the front wall ofthe hanger B and maintain the lantern in ver-' tical position, the endsof the screws a a being rubber tipped as indicated at; (1 A miter gearor segment is preferably sccuredto the rear face of the hanger l5, andits teeth mesh with a miter gear (I on a shaft 1), extending through abearing in the bracket 0, and through the wall of the car; where it isprovided with a. hand wheel D or other operating device. See Figs. 1, 2

and 3.

This is the simplest form of the device and with this mechanism, it isobvious that, the motorman who is operating the car can by simplyturning the hand wheel to right or left, throw the rays from the headlight laterally as desired. Thus in rounding a curve he can;

for automatically turning it to the right or left, according as the caris rounding a curve to the right or left. I To.

this end the harp'or hanger B is provided (as shown in Fig. 1) withattaching devices b on opposite sides of its pivotal connection, in thisinstance, loops or eyes as shown, to which are connected flexibleconnections such as wire ropes E (see Figs. 4 and 5) connected it theirrear ends to the truck of the car, indicated at FT keep the light on theroad bed of the curve, and when the car again enters a straight sectionof track the head light Wlll be automatically positioned to throw thelight straight ahead. I

I wish it to be understood that the devices for the hand manipulation ofthe lantern support'or hanger, and theautomatic devices may be usedseparately, and that they may also be used advantageously-in connectionwith each other. Thus if the hanger B, shown in Fig. 1 (in which figurethe hand adjustment only is I illustrated) have its eyes I) b connectedwith the truck in thernanner illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 the movementsof the truck will automatically position or adjust the hanger and-hoadlight, and at the same time the yielding sections or springs e in theconnections E will permit the motorman to instantly operate the lanternby hand wheel D in any desired direction. As soon as the motormanreleases the hand wheel the lantern will automatically respond 'to themovements of the truck as before described. Thus in'case the car ismoving straight ahead and the motor-man operates the hand wheel D tothrow the light to one side or the other, on his releasing the wheel,the light will be brought at once to its median positionf-The springs cwill also compensate forthe jolting of the car and truck, and in case ofderailment will expand and prevent injury to the hanger B, andconneclions E.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have illustrated a construction for the combinedautomatic and hand adjustment or control of the hanger B, in which theshaft D is provided with a sprocket wheel D over which a short section Dof sprocket chain is placed the ends hf which are connected with theflexible connections E as shown so that the oscillations of the truck Fwill cause the shaft D to rotate and thus move the lantern into thedesired position.

In cases where the handadjusting devices are used alone shown in Figs.1, 2 and 3 I prefer to provide the mechanism with means forautomaticallyretaining or holding thehanger B and the lantern in anyposition to which theymay be adjusted and to prevent the lantern fromswinging hythe jolting of the car. For this purpose I prefer to. employa pair of interlbcking disks.

(1 (1 one of which is shown in detail Fig. 8, and which have facesprovided with radial V-shaped projections. One of thesedisks (l."issecured to the car wall (see Fig. 3) and the other (P is keyed on theshaft I), so as to be movable longitudinally thereon and is providedwith a coiled spring which holds said plates or disks together. It willthus be seen that the described rctaining device will hold the headlightsupport and the headlight in any position to which it may be adjusted,but the operator can move theheadlight and support in either directionand at any time by means of the and operated device. This retainingdevice may be omitted, however; when the automatic connection with thetruck is employed. 1 t will also be understood that in the forms of myinvention shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6,

the hand wheels may be omitted and the position of the hanger andheadlight cont-rolled entirely from the trucks if desired, although Iprefer to provide for both a manualand automatic crgntrol. as thereinillustrated.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s:-- I

1. The combination with :1 vehicle, of a pivoted head-- light support,mounted thereon, automatic positioning devices, iucludingconnectionsextending to said pivoted support. for automatically moving said pivotedsupport.

with said supporting means zindcontrolled by the position of the fronttruck of the vehicle, and including yielding devices. and a handoperated device connected with said supporting, means for taking themtemporarily out of the control of the automatic devices, substantiallyas described.

3. The combination with means for pivotally supporting :1 heudlight, ofconnections from said Supporting meanstothe truck of the vehicle, forautomatically position ing said headlight. springs interposed in each ofsaid connections and :in independent hand operated device C011- nectedwith said supporting means, substantially as described.

4. The combination with u pivotzilly mounted supporting frame for :iheadlight, of connections between said.

frame and the front truck of the vehicle, for swinging the said supportlaterally upon its pivotal connection. said. connections being providedwith yielding devices therein :1 hand wheel located in the vehicle andgearing Y connccl'iin: said hand wheel with the said supporting frame,for independently adjustingsaid frame without regard to the automaticdevices. substantially as described.

5. The combination. with :1 pivotnlly mounted support in; ,frmnc for aheadlight, of a shaft provided with a hand operating device, gearingconnecting said shaft with said fl'illll(*..,iliXll)l8 connectionsbetween said shaft and the front truck of thc vehicle for nutonnlticallycontrolling the position of said frame and springs located in saidflexible connections. to permit of the independent opera lion of saidhand operated shaft, substantially as described.

(i. The combination with :1 pivoted support for :1 headlight. of handoperated devices therefor including. a shaft. :1 retaining device, forsaid shui't comprising :1 pair 01. disks provided with interlockingV-shapcd projections. one'of said disks being staiionnry and the othersecured .to said shaft, but movable loue'iludinnlly thereof. and a

